Microscopie à Force Atomique à haute vitesse en Biologie : la structure et la dynamique au niveau de la molécule individuelle – HS-Bio-AFM

The project « High-speed Bio Atomic Force Microscopy: structure and dynamics at the single molecule level » aims at the development of high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) setups in a collaborative consortium for the investigation of structure and dynamics of biological samples. Conventional AFM instruments need between 1 minute (contact mode) and up to 10 minutes (oscillating contact mode) for the acquisition of an image. In the context of biology, this means that AFM images provide snapshots with a too slow sampling rate with respect to the time evolution of dynamic biological processes. In the late 90's first technical developments have attempted to increase the image rate of AFMs without loss of resolution. Among other variants, particularly convincing Japanese AFM prototypes have been able to image individual molecules in solution at video rate (~30 images per second!). The field of exploitation of this technology in biology is almost infinite, because the additional dimension of time evolution of biological processes is assessed (structural and functional dynamics). The present consortium consisting of biologists, physico-chemists and physicists, featuring a strong background in biological AFM, wants implement and design specific original applications of this technology in France. The groups will focus on the study of membrane related processes (important in signaling, transport, and energy generation), the study of protein-DNA complexes (important in genetic and transcription regulation), and the study of the effect of surface nature and confinement on selectivity, reactivity and biological activity of proteins (interactions between proteins and inorganic materials).